The Paradox of Power

Jonah Lehrer gives us both the good news and the bad news. We put people in power who we genuinely like. It's only then that the situation changes:

The very traits that helped leaders accumulate control in the first
place all but disappear once they rise to power. Instead of being
polite, honest and outgoing, they become impulsive, reckless and rude.
In some cases, these new habits can help a leader be more decisive and
single-minded, or more likely to make choices that will be profitable
regardless of their popularity. One recent study found that
overconfident CEOs were more likely to pursue innovation and take their
companies in new technological directions. Unchecked, however, these
instincts can lead to a big fall.

The scholars cited in the piece are most persuasive when they
observe actual social hierarchies in action. They are least
persuasive when they draw sweeping conclusions from dubious
experiments. The article's most ridiculous moment comes when it
describes a study whose subjects were asked "to either describe an
experience in which they had lots of power or a time when they felt
utterly powerless. Then the psychologists asked the subjects to
draw the letter E on their foreheads. Those primed with feelings of
power were much more likely to draw the letter backwards, at least
when seen by another person. [Adam] Galinsky argues that this
effect is triggered by the myopia of power, which makes it much
harder to imagine the world from the perspective of someone else."
That seems about as believable as palmistry.

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